Siemens Begins Zero-Emissions Highway Testing in California
Three different types of trucks are being tested: one battery-electric truck, a clean natural-gas hybrid-electric truck, and a diesel-hybrid truck. Photo: Siemens
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Three different types of trucks are being tested: one battery-electric truck, a clean natural-gas hybrid-electric truck, and a diesel-hybrid truck. Photo: Siemens
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A new, zero-emission highway concept for moving freight is undergoing testing near Long Beach, California.
German technology giant Siemens and the South Coast Air Quality Management District are conducting a one-mile, zero-emission eHighway demonstration in Carson, California, to determine the feasibility of a dedicated electric highway. The test involves three big-rig trucks hauling freight along a stretch of highway that uses Siemens technology to electrify select highway lanes via an overhead catenary system. This catenary system supplies the trucks with electric power, similar to how modern-day trolleys or streetcars are powered on many city streets, but the system also allows for truck operation outside the electrified sections of infrastructure.
Currently, one battery-electric truck, a clean natural-gas hybrid-electric truck, and a diesel-hybrid truck are driving on the mile-long catenary system on the north- and south-bound lanes of South Alameda Street from East Lomita Boulevard to the Dominguez Channel in Carson. The demonstration system features an overhead contact line that makes power available to trucks along the road. An active pantograph on top of the eHighway trucks transfers energy from the overhead lines to the trucks’ electric motors, allowing them to operate with zero emissions while on the catenary system.
The pantograph can connect and disconnect automatically with the contact line via a sensor system while the trucks are moving. This allows the eHighway trucks to easily switch lanes or pass other vehicles without being permanently fixed to the overhead systems. To further ensure the same flexibility as conventional trucks, the eHighway vehicles use an electric-hybrid drive system, which can be powered by diesel, compressed natural gas, battery or other on-board energy source, when driving outside of the catenary lines.
The system is …Read the rest of this story
